Carlos Miller is founder and publisher of Photography is Not a Crime, which began as a one-man blog in 2007 to document his trial after he was arrested for photographing police during a journalistic assignment.
He is also the author of The Citizen Journalist's Photography Handbook, which can be purchased through Amazon.

El Paso Police Harassing Citizens Who Videotape Them

April 6, 2011

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El Paso police attempted to intimidate a man who was videotaping them in public, insinuating that they could cost him his job.

They even called his supervisor to the scene, even though he had done nothing illegal.

Jesus Lopez-Ledesma, a taxicab inspector, began videotaping a police officer getting confrontational with a driver he had pulled over.

The officer then turned his attention to Lopez-Ledesma, ordering him to stop recording, according to a KTMS news report.

When Lopez-Ledesma asked why he needed to stop recording when there was no law against it, the cop first told him that it was for the safety of an undercover cop.

Then he told him it was for the privacy of the driver he had pulled over.

Both responses are complete bullshit.

The officer then demanded to see his drivers license, telling him he needed to provide his personal information to the driver he had pulled over in order to allow her to sue him.

Despite the video evidence, El Paso police said they did nothing wrong.

Fortunately, Lopez-Ledesma doesn’t appear the type to back down easily and has fired off letters to the mayor and city council.

Meanwhile, another man who saw the KTSM news report came forward and said he was harassed by El Paso police for recording them.

Dan Wild says police stopped him from recording a raid that happened behind his house two years ago. He says the officer asked him for his press pass and told him that he was committing a felony by recording. Wild says the officer ordered him to hand his camera over. So, he did.

“I said, “what are you doing?” He said, “I’m looking for kiddie porn.” I said, “kiddie porn?” Well by this time I’m pretty offended, but he told me I was breaking the law and in commission of a felony for videotaping [the raid].

Wild said he had no reason to believe the cop was lying, so he did as he was told.